, 1887-12-28
THE c4LoRoFoRM HABIT.
A Man Driven TO 1t by Stock Gambling
Is Cured b. Hard Rowing.

Is Cured b. Hard Rowing.
"If you were not a personal friend of
mine, - the dentist went on TO say, Il
shouldn't do this; it's horribly unprofes-
sional. you know Then he took a
small bottle, and with a small glass meas
ure he carefully meted out the dose.
There are thirty drops of pure chloro-
form here. he said; when you go to
bed pour the chlornforIn upon the center
of a folded handkerchief, lie upon your
side Oh the edge Of your pillow, and in
hale the drug. carefully keeping your
mouth closed. Sniff away at ii just as if
it were smelling salts: the pain will dis
appear, and you will sleep like a top"
Now | longed for night. When it ar
rived l jumped into bed, thirsting for
sleep. and carefully carried out my in
structions. Having lowered the gas l
took the folded handkerchief, emptied
the contents of the little bottle upon its
center, laid my head upon the edge of
the pillow, closed my eyes and mouth,
and proceeded to Rhale as directed.
Gradually, yet rapidly, a feeling of drOw-
siness crept pom me. First | seemed to
be looking upon a black and inky dark
ness; then the darkness seemed softly il
Illuminated by nih tie points of light, like
distant stars. Presently the ligit of
these stars became more intense, and l
noticed that they We're arranged in innu-
merable parallel rows. 1t gave me a
strange pleasure to gaze upon them.
Now the pain in my face disappeared,
the stars seemed to grow brighter and to
increase in size. Then suddenly they
all began to revolve at the same
instant. l gaEed at them (this,
- -. IL ..,.w,ss..t
with n sort of pleased astonishment and
curiosity, AS l gazed they rovolved still
more rapidly; then / heard n putting
noise, which increased in rapidity, ex-
actly resembling the sound made by a
distant engine leaving a station, and then
| sank into a deep, tranquil, dreamless
sleep, which lasted all the night. In the
morning l woke greatly refreshed and
the pain in my face had gone The one
sound nights rest had done me an i'm
mense amount of good. My mind no
longer dwelt painfully upon my miser-
able trouble. l could face the share list
with calulness. Once more was a com
%paraiively happy man, and l went on
with my ordinary avocations in a half
jubilant stlte.
But again that night sleep avoided me.
l counted LOCO, l repeated the multiple
cation table, | tried to picture in my
minds eye an innumerable succession of
sheep Jumping over a hurdle, l tried to
rec j the last Sundays sermon; all to no
avail. Morning came TO find me still
weary and wakeful, and so | resolved to
call again upon my friend the dentist. l
did SO, but my visit was mo- altogether n
success. On learning what | wanted my
friend sternly refused fresh supplies.
Chloroform, he said, was n dangerous
drug; To use it once was all well enough;
the habit of taking it was worse han
dram drinking. When | began to entreat
he bowed me out of the room.
| Indignantly marched to the nearest
chemist and asked for an ounce of
chloroform as calmly as if / had been de-
manding "A black draught. The chemist
inquired if | were "A chemical man, and
upon my replying in the negative de
clined to supply me. Afterward l went
to four other chemists with the like re
suit. How l obtained the drug at last Il
neither here or there; but by the exercise
of some ingenuity l became possessed of
a pound bottle of chloroform and "A two
drachm glass measure graduated in
drops. And now l found myself in pos
session of n panacea more potent than
poppy or mandragora, or all the drowsy
syrups of the world" Every night l
used to procure sound and comfortable
sleep, and l went on doing so unconscious
of my danger. For three whole months
l continued in this curse. The habit had
mastered me from the first. This Is an
honest confession and not a sermon, and
l am bound to state that the only incon-
venience l ever experienced was a slight
feeling of nausea in the morning. Two
distinct desires irresistibly prompted me
the one an intense longing for sleep and
II refuge from mental worry, the other a
hankering after the p~leasurable sensations
which the inhalation of the drug invari-
ably produced.
BY this time the habit had taken such
a hold upon me that during the daytime
l could think Of little else but of my
pleasure to come. To produce the desired
effect the dose had been slowly increased.
/ vas % inhaling regularly sixty drops
every night.
Probably | should not be here to tell the
tale if | had not become engaged to be
married. My two future brothers-in-law
invited me to accompany them in n boat
ing party on the upper Thames. 1 ac-
cepted; and then it suddenly struck me
that l should be deprived for one whole
week at least Of my f~avorite drug. De-
lection in such indulgenCes would GER
tainly break off the marriage. 1t would
not do 10 he found out; sol started with
out a single drop of my divine elixir. ]
was quite out of practice in sculling and
at night time | lay down TO rest tired as a
dog and dead beat. That was my saliva
ton. Islcpt like n top, and l ave never
.